UC-NRLF 


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T9S 

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SET 


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' 


The 
Chief  Engineer 


By 
HENRY  ABBOTT 


NEW  YORK 

1920 


Copyright  1920 

By 
HENRY  ABBOTT 


The  Chief  Engineer  Uib 
& 


Henry  Abbott  » 

rwas  a  dark  night  in  July  —  very 
dark.  There  was  no  moon  and 
clouds  hid  the  stars.  We  were 
sitting  by  the  camp  fire.  Bige  had  just 
kicked  the  burning  logs  together  so  that 
a  shower  of  sparks  shot  straight  up  to- 
ward the  tree-tops,  indicating  that  there 
was  no  wind,  when  he  said,  "If  you 
want  to  make  that  picture  of  deer  this 
is  just  the  kind  of  a  night  to  go  for  it. 
You  must  have  it  dark  so  you  can  get 
close  enough  to  get  a  good  photograph. 
Also,  this  is  just  the  kind  of  weather 
when  we  are  likely  to  find  deer  feeding 
near  the  mouth  of  the  river." 

So  with  camera  and  flash-light  appar- 
atus I  climbed  into  the  bow  end  of  our 
light-weight  cedar  boat,  while  Bige  with 
paddle  sat  in  the  stern.  We  aimed 
toward  the  mouth  of  the  river  about 
half  of  a  mile  from  camp  and  across 

3 


The  Chief  Engineer 


the  pond.  No  land-marks  were  visible, 
so  we  steered  by  "dead  reckoning." 
Bige  was  feathering  his  paddle,  Indian 
fashion  without  lifting  it  out  of  the 
water,  so  we  silently  proceeded,  making 
no  ripple  on  the  surface  and  yet,  at 
first,  rather  swiftly. 

A  few  minutes  later,  the  bow  of  the 
boat  struck  some  yielding  obstacle. 
My  first  thought  was  that  we  had  hit 
a  mossy,  overhanging  bank  on  the  oppo- 
site shore  of  the  pond.  In  times  of 
stress,  thoughts  follow  each  other  in 
rapid  succession.  My  second  thought 
was  that  the  opposite  shore  was  not 
mossy  and  overhanging,  but  rocky; 
third,  that  we  had  not  been  out  long 
enough  to  get  across;  and  fourth  that 
we  must  have  hit  some  animal  who  was 
swimming.  But  things  were  happening 
now,  more  rapidly  than  thoughts,  and 
very  much  quicker  than  the  time  re- 
quired to  tell  about  them ;  and  this  latter 
thought  was  confirmed  long  before  it  was 
completely  formulated. 

5 


Instantly,  after  we  struck,  a  violent 
commotion  occurred  under  the  bow  of 
the  boat,  water  splashed  in  my  face, 
there  was  the  sound  of  scratching,  gnaw- 
ing and  splintering  wood,  then  a  paw 
appeared  on  the  gunwale  beside  me,  the 
boat  rocked  and  I  yelled  to  Bige,  "He 
is  climbing  aboard!!"  while  I  lifted  the 
camera  intending  to  brain  this  indis- 
tinct shape  as  soon  as  I  could  see  its 
head.  This  was  immediately  followed 
by  the  release  of  the  weight  on  the  side 
of  the  boat,  its  rocking  in  the  opposite 
direction,  a  resounding  slap  on  the  water 
which  threw  a  shower  of  spray  over  my 
head,  in  my  eyes  and  ears.  Then  si- 
lence. 

"Must  have  hit  a  muskrat,"  said 
Bige. 

"More  like  a  collie  dog  or  a  young 
bear,"  said  I.  "He  surely  would  have 
swamped  the  boat  if  you  had  not  slapped 
the  water  with  the  paddle,  and  I  would 
have  smashed  my  camera  over  his  head." 

"I  didn't  slap  anything  with  the  pad- 
6 


a 

I 

I 


die.  I  wouldn't  spoil  your  fun  that 
way.  Your  friend  in  the  water  made 
all  the  noise.  Wonder  what  he  was," 
said  Bige. 

'Well,  it  was  no  measly  muskrat, 
I'll  stake  my  reputation  and  experience 
on  that,"  said  I. 

There  ended  our  photographing  opera- 
tions for  that  occasion,  since  after  such 
a  racket  no  deer  could  be  expected  to 
show  himself  at  the  pond,  so  we  turned 
back  to  camp.  On  the  way  we  discussed 
the  possible  identity  of  the  animal  with 
whom  we  had  just  been  in  collision, 
and  who  had  upset  our  plans  for  the 
evening. 

Most  wild  animals  swim;  some  for 
pleasure,  others  only  when  it  cannot  be 
avoided.  In  the  darkness  we  failed  to 
get  a  clear  idea  of  the  size  or  shape  of 
this  fellow,  we  could  only  judge  by  the 
jolt  our  boat  got,  and  the  commotion  he 
made  in  the  water.  We  canvassed  the 
possibility  of  its  being  a  coon,  a  fox,  an 
otter,  a  porcupine,  a  marten,  a  lynx  or 

8 


a  wolf;  but  there  was  something  about 
the  habits  of  each  that  would  not  fit  the 
incident  and  we  went  to  bed  with  the 
problem  still  unsolved. 

After  breakfast  the  following  morn- 
ing, we  went  down  to  the  shore  and 
examined  our  boat.  The  thin  part  of 
the  prow  above  the  water  line  had  been 
bitten  through  and  a  splinter  a  half- 
inch  thick  and  eight  inches  long  had 
been  torn  out.  The  marks  of  very  sharp 
clean  cutting  teeth  plainly  showed  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  break.  Short 
brown  hairs  were  sticking  to  the  rough 
edges  of  the  bow,  and  on  the  keel  for  a 
space  of  eighteen  inches  back  of  the 
bow. 

"That  fellow  must  have  thought  a 
tree  fell  on  him,"  said  Bige.  The  boat, 
we  found  did  not  leak,  so  we  went  fish- 
ing. Passing  a  small  island  about  a  mile 
up  the  pond,  we  noticed  a  young  green 
poplar  tree  had  fallen  into  the  water. 
There  had  been  no  wind  storm  for 
months  and  we  did  not  know  of  any 

9 


other  campers  on  the  pond  so  we  won- 
dered who  could  have  cut  down  that 
poplar,  and  why?  We  went  ashore  to 
investigate.  The  tree  we  found  was 
about  four  inches  in  diameter  at  the  butt 
and  it  had  not  been  chopped,  but  had 
been  gnawed  off.  The  ground  about 
the  stump  was  strewn  with  chips  and 
one  branch  had  been  gnawed  off  and 
carried  away.  The  tooth  marks  on  the 
stump  were  like  those  on  the  bow  of  our 
boat,  and  looked  as  if  made  by  a  curved 
chisel  about  a  quarter  inch  wide.  The 
chips  were  from  two  to  four  inches  long 
and  were  clean  cut  on  each  end  and  split 
out  as  if  they  had  come  from  a  wood 
chopper's  axe. 

Bige  said,  "Gosh!  that  looks  like  the 
work  of  beaver,  but  there  are  no  beaver 
in  these  woods,  haven't  been  any  here 
for  sixty  years." 

A  few  minutes  later  we  found  the 
branch  which  had  been  cut  from  the 
fallen  poplar  floating  on  the  water  near 
shore  opposite  the  island.  The  bark 

10 


had  been  stripped  from  it  down  to  the 
smallest  twig  and  it  appeared  white  and 
conspicuous  when  seen  from  a  distance 
of  fifty  yards. 

Proceeding  on  our  way  toward  the 
fishing  ground,  we  presently  saw  the 
head  of  some  animal  above  the  surface. 
It  was  swimming  toward  us  and  waves 
were  spreading  out  fan  wise  in  its  wake, 
on  the  smooth  surface  of  the  pond. 
Instantly  we  became  motionless  and 
watched  its  approach.  When  within 
fifteen  or  twenty  yards  of  our  boat  it 
stopped,  eyeing  us  curiously,  then  swung 
to  the  right  and  again  to  the  left,  appar- 
ently for  the  purpose  of  viewing  us  from 
different  angles.  Its  back  appearing 
above  the  surface  was  covered  with  a 
reddish  brown  fur  with  long  grey  hairs 
showing  at  intervals.  There  was  a  large 
white  spot  on  the  top  of  his  head  (this 
we  later  learned  was  not  a  character- 
istic marking,  a  white  spot  being  quite 
unusual  on  animals  of  this  family,  and 
it  enabled  us  to  recognize  our  first 

11 


acquaintance  from  among  the  many 
members  of  his  tribe  whom  we  subse- 
quently met.)  Two  large,  projecting 
and  curving  cutting  teeth  on  the  upper 
and  two  on  the  lower  jaw  appeared  when 
he  opened  his  mouth.  There  were  also 
eight  molars  on  each  jaw.  His  eyes 
were  inconspicuous  and  his  ears  were 
small  but  he  had  a  broad,  flat  tail, 
shaped  somewhat  like  the  blade  of  a 
paddle. 

Having,  apparently,  decided  that  it 
would  be  unwise  to  cultivate  a  closer 
acquaintance  with  two  men  in  a  boat, 
our  swimmer  humped  his  back,  lifted 
high  his  broad  tail  and  with  it  struck 
the  water  a  powerful  slap,  the  noise  of 
which  reverberated  from  "Mud  Pond 
Mountain  to  East  Inlet  Holler"  and  it 
threw  a  shower  of  water  and  spray  eight 
or  ten  feet  into  the  air,  looking  like  some 
of  the  war  pictures  of  exploding  mines. 

The  animal  disappeared  under  water 
but  a  long  line  of  air  bubbles  coming  to 
the  surface  marked  his  progress  under 

12 


! 


I 

o 


water.  These  we  followed  about  two 
hundred  yards  to  where  they  ended  at 
the  opposite  shore.  A  closer  examina- 
tion disclosed  the  entrance,  about  two 
feet  under  the  surface,  of  a  burrow  which 
seemed  to  rise  under  the  high  bank. 

"Well,"  said  Bige,  "that's  the  fellow 
who  met  up  with  our  boat  last  night. 
He's  a  beaver  all  right,  but  where  in 
tunket  did  he  come  from?" 

The  incidents  here  related  occurred 
while  we  were  camping  at  Cherry  Pond, 
seventeen  years  ago.  We  had  learned 
in  many  conversations  with  Mitchell 
Sabattis  (an  Indian  who  died  at  a  very 
advanced  age  a  few  years  ago,  and  who 
was  the  oldest  inhabitant  of  this  region), 
about  the  Indians  trapping  beaver  here, 
and  how  they  sold  hundreds  of  skins  to 
John  Jacob  Astor,  who  became  rich 
dealing  in  furs  which  he  purchased 
throughout  the  northern  forests  and  in 
Canada. 

Sabattis  explained  that  it  was  the 
practice  of  the  Indians  to  take  only 

14 


a  few  animals  from  each  colony,  when 
they  would  move  their  traps  to  another 
dam.  Thus  there  were  always  enough 
beaver  left  for  breeding  and  they  in- 
creased rapidly.  But  the  white  trappers, 
when  they  came,  caught  every  beaver 
and  took  every  skin,  big  and  little,  with 
the  result  that  in  a  few  years'  time, 
beaver  had  been  exterminated  from  the 
Adirondack  forests  and  none  ever  came 
in  again. 

A  few  days  after  our  encounter  with 
the  animal  as  above  related,  we  learned, 
while  making  inquiries,  that  during  the 
previous  season  the  Conservation  Com- 
mission of  the  State  had  "  plan  ted"  a 
family  of  six  beavers  on  one  of  the 
streams  emptying  into  Raquette  Lake, 
and  we  concluded  that  the  individual 
we  met  was  an  emigrant  from  that 
colony. 

Upon  studying  the  government  map, 
we  figured  that  if  he  followed  a  chain  of 
lakes  and  ponds  through  the  connecting 
streams,  he  must  have  traveled  thirty- 

15 


five  miles.  If  he  had  come  over  the 
mountain  and  several  foothills  in  a 
straight  line,  which  seemed  unlikely,  he 
might  have  shortened  his  trip  to  about 
twenty  miles. 

We  saw  the  white  headed  beaver  many 
times  during  our  visits  to  the  pond  that 
summer,  sometimes  on  shore,  or  sitting 
on  the  trunk  of  a  poplar  or  birch  tree 
which  he  had  felled  near  the  water.  His 
body  was  about  thirty  inches  long,  tail 
ten  inches  long  and  six  inches  wide, 
hind  feet  webbed,  like  those  of  a  goose, 
fore  feet  resembled  the  hands  of  a  child 
but  with  long,  sharp  toe  nails.  He  might 
have  weighed  forty  or  fifty  pounds.  He 
was  a  slow  and  clumsy  traveler  on  land 
but  a  very  efficient  citizen  in  the  water. 
He  could  dive  and  remain  under  water 
from  eight  to  ten  minutes  without  ap- 
parent inconvenience.  Swimming,  he 
could  tow  a  log  twice  his  own  weight  and 
against  the  current  when  necessary. 

Early  in  September,  his  wife  arrived. 
Whether  the  "old  man"  went  after  her, 

16 


whether  he  sent  a  wireless  message  or 
a  telepathic  command,  or  whether  the 
date  of  her  coming  had  been  arranged 
between  them  before  he  left  home,  we 
never  knew.  It  seems  quite  probable 
that  she  just  naturally  knew  that  it  was 
high  time  for  her  husband  to  stop  ex- 
ploring and  loafing  and  to  get  busy 
building  a  house  and  storing  a  supply  of 
food  for  the  winter,  so  she  arrived. 

She  would  have  no  difficulty  in  fol- 
lowing his  trail,  which  after  the  habit 
of  his  kind,  he  doubtless  marked  at  more 
or  less  frequent  intervals  by  scooping  up 
from  the  bottom  of  the  pond  or  stream 
a  double  handful  of  soft  mud,  which  he 
would  place  on  the  shore,  shape  it  up 
into  a  nice  round  mudpie  and  deposit 
in  its  center  a  few  drops  of  "Castoreum." 
This  material  has  a  peculiar,  pungent 
and  individual  odor  easily  recongized 
by  members  of  a  beaver  family.  The 
Indians  also  highly  prized  the  castoreum 
of  the  beaver  for  its  supposed  medicinal 
properties. 

17 


Immediately  on  the  arrival  of  the 
female  beaver  the  two  began  work 
building  a  house.  This  was  placed  on 
a  point  of  land  between  the  mouth  of 
the  river  and  a  shallow  bay  or  slough. 
The  base  of  the  house  was  about  a  foot 
•  above  the  normal  level  of  the  pond. 
Straight  sticks  and  crooked  branches 
two  to  four  inches  in  diameter  and  about 
five  feet  long  were  placed  on  the  ground 
for  a  foundation  and  were  arranged  in 
a  circle  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel.  On 
these  were  piled  other  sticks,  brush, 
stones,  sod  and  mud,  which  latter  was 
used  as  cement  or  mortar  to  bind  the 
other  materials  together.  An  open 
space  was  left  in  the  center,  which  grew 
smaller  in  diameter  as  the  walls  were 
carried  up  and  was  finally  arched  over. 
The  house  when  finished  was  fourteen 
feet  in  diameter  at  the  base;  it  was  cone 
shaped  and  six  feet  high.  It  had  no 
door  or  entrance  visible  on  the  surface; 
but  as  the  side  walls  were  being  carried 
up  one  of  the  beavers  dug  a  round  hole 
18 


I 


ffl 


twelve  inches  in  diameter,  straight  down 
from  the  center  of  the  house  about 
eighteen  inches,  when  it  was  curved 
toward  the  river  and  opened  out  in  the 
bottom.  Then  he  dug  a  second  entrance, 
close  to  the  first  one,  but  this  curved 
toward  the  slough.  The  water  there 
being  shallow,  a  ditch  or  canal  dug  in 
the  bottom  carried  the  outer  end  of  the 
burrow  down  about  three  feet  below 
the  surface  and  a  hundred  feet  or  more 
out  to  deep  water.  The  mud  procured 
in  digging  the  entrance  and  exit  was 
used  in  plastering  the  walls  of  the  house. 
No  mud  was  used  on  the  ventilating 
flue,  which  was  a  space  about  a  foot  in 
diameter  in  the  center  of  the  cone.  This 
was  thoroughly  protected  from  outside 
enemies  by  two  feet  in  thickness  of 
criss-crossed  sticks,  but  air  could  freely 
pass  through  the  interstices. 

The  house  building  proceeded  rapidly, 
much  of  the  work  being  done  at  night, 
but  we  were  able  to  inspect  the  building 
daily,  and  several  times  we  found  the 

20 


beavers  working  in  the  daytime.  Always 
the  white  crowned  beaver  was  the  leader 
and  seemed  to  be  directing  the  work  of 
the  other.  When  the  structure  was 
completed  it  proved  to  be  an  excellent 
example  of  reinforced  concrete  work  of 
a  most  substantial  character.  Never- 
theless, six  weeks  later,  just  before 
freezing  weather  started,  a  final  coating 
of  mud  three  inches  thick  was  plastered 
over  the  entire  outside  surface  of  the 
house.  When  frozen,  this  armor  plate 
would  furnish  complete  protection  to 
the  furry  inhabitants  against  their  most 
ferocious  enemies  during  the  long  and 
hungry  months  of  winter. 

Some  years  later,  a  beaver  house,  the 
side  of  which  had  been  cut  away,  af- 
forded an  opportunity  for  us  to  learn 
how  our  white-headed  friend  finished 
the  inside  of  his  castle.  The  rough  pro- 
jecting inner  ends  of  sticks,  branches 
and  brush  were  gnawed  off  making  a 
roomy,  smooth-walled,  dome  ceilinged 
space  divided  into  two  parts.  The 

21 


first,  or  ground  floor,  contained  the 
openings  for  entrance  and  exit.  It  also 
was  used  as  a  drying  room;  for  no  self- 
respecting  beaver  would  ever  permit 
himself,  his  family  or  guests  to  go  to 
bed  in  wet  clothes.  Coming  in  from 
swimming  in  the  pond  or  river  he  must 
sit  in  the  vestibule  until  his  wet  fur  is 
thoroughly  dry  before  he  climbs  into 
the  bunk. 

The  drying  floor  also  serves  the  pur- 
pose of  a  dining  room  in  winter,  when 
the  pond  is  covered  with  ice,  as  will 
later  appear. 

The  sleeping  apartment  had  its  floor 
about  six  inches  higher  than  the  drying 
floor.  The  bed  was  made  of  thin  shreds 
or  splinters  of  dry  poplar  wood.  A 
quantity  of  this  material  had  been  split 
out  with  an  expenditure  of  much  time 
and  patience.  A  mattress  three  inches 
or  more  thick,  made  of  this  soft,  elastic 
material  would  make  a  far  better 
than  many  campers  can  boast  of. 

Mud  for  use  in  house  building 

22 


procured,  not  only  from  the  tunnel  en- 
trances and  from  the  canal,  but  excava- 
tions were  made  in  the  river  bottom 
near  the  house.  A  pocket  was  there 
dug  out,  about  twenty  feet  in  diameter, 
making  the  water  six  feet  deep. 

Into  this  hole  the  two  beavers  now 
proceeded  to  store  their  food  for  the 
winter.  This  consisted  chiefly  of  the 
trunks  of  poplar  saplings,  two  to  six 
inches  in  diameter,  cut  into  lengths  of 
four  to  six  feet,  the  sticks  of  larger  dia- 
meter being  the  shorter.  In  the  wood 
pile  were  also  placed  the  branches  of  the 
same  trees.  Mixed  in  with  the  poplar 
were  some  alders  and  a  few  birch  and 
soft  maple  sticks.  The  birch  and  alder 
apparently  were  used  to  add  spice  and 
tang  to  the  otherwise  sameness  of  their 
more  staple  food. 

In  the  edge  of  the  forest  next  the 
slough  a  few  years  before,  a  fire  (doubt- 
less started  by  some  careless  hunter), 
had  burned  over  several  acres,  and  this 
was  now  covered  by  a  "second  growth" 

23 


of  poplar.  It  was  there  that  the  beavers 
cut  most  of  their  lumber.  The  water 
in  the  slough  was  shallow  and  filled  with 
pond  lillies,  so  a  canal  three  feet  wide, 
two  feet  deep  and  two  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  long  was  dug  across  this 
mudhole.  Through  this  canal  the  bea- 
vers floated  their  sticks  and  brush  and 
placed  them  on  their  storage  pile  under 
water  so  that  the  bark,  which  they  eat, 
might  be  kept  soft  and  fresh  for  winter 
use.  Also,  so  that  it  might  be  reached 
from  their  house  under  the  ice,  after 
pond  and  river  were  frozen. 

Day  after  day  Bige  and  I  watched 
the  progress  of  this  harvest.  Saw  the 
beaver  towing  the  floating  logs  through 
the  canal  into  the  pond  and  up  the 
river  to  the  lumber  pile  where  the 
beaver  would  dive  with  his  stick  and 
presently  come  to  the  surface  again, 
leaving  the  stick  under  the  water;  and 
we  wondered  how  he  did  it.  Also  we 
discussed  possible  ways  of  making  a 
floating  stick  sink.  From  our  boat  we 

24 


could  see  the  pile  of  wood  below  the 
surface  of  the  water  and  we  could  see 
no  stones  on  the  pile. 

Bige  stoutly  argued  in  support  of  the 
theory  that  the  beaver  sucked  the  air 
out  of  the  pores  in  the  wood,  that  the 
water  fl6wed  into  the  vacuum  thus  pro- 
duced, making  the  stick  heavy  enough 
to  sink.  In  order  to  demonstrate  his 
theory,  Bige  took  the  axe  from  camp, 
cut  a  poplar  sapling  an  inch  and  a  half 
in  diameter  and  the  usual  beaver  length, 
put  one  end  in  the  water  and  sucked  on 
the  other  end  of  the  stick.  After  re- 
peated trials  and  failures  to  make  the 
stick  do  anything  but  float,  Bige  decided 
that  his  "sucker  was  not  powerful 
enough."  The  next  day,  looking  down 
into  the  water  from  our  boat,  we  saw 
one  end  of  the  axe-cut  stick  in  the  wood 
pile  with  other  sticks  cut  by  beaver 
teeth. 

After  my  return  to  the  city,  Bige 
reported  from  time  to  time,  making 
visits  to  the  beaver  house,  seeing  beaver 

25 


Bige  Testing  the  Power 
of  His  Sucker 


swimming  under  the  ice,  carrying  sticks 
from  the  wood  pile  into  the  tunnel 
leading  to  the  house;  also  later,  beaver 
bringing  peeled  sticks  out  of  the  house 
and  placing  them  in  a  very  orderly  man- 
ner on  another  pile.  Reports  also 
reached  me  of  beaver  under  the  ice 
digging  pond  lily  roots  and  carrying 
them  into  the  house. 

In  the  following  April  after  the  ice 
in  the  pond  had  broken  up,  the  beavers 
came  out  of  their  winter  home  and 
brought  with  them  six  young  beaver 
puppies.  The  father  beaver  with  the 
white  head  now  went  away  on  his  sum- 
mer exploration  trip.  We  later  learned 
that  it  was  the  habit  of  all  male  beavers 
to  wander  far  from  home  during  the 
summer  months.  The  mother  remained 
at  the  pond  and  took  care  of  her  six 
young  ones;  but  with  them  she  moved 
into  the  burrow  in  the  bank  where  we 
had  first  seen  the  old  male  beaver  go  to 
hide. 

Many  times  during  the  summer  we 

27 


saw  the  young  beavers  sunning  them- 
selves on  the  bank  or  playing  in  the 
water  near  the  shore.  The  mother  was 
always  somewhere  near,  and  invariably 
sounded  a  warning  by  pounding  the 
water  with  her  broad  tail,  whereupon 
the  youngsters  would  scamper  for  cover 
and  each  would  precede  his  dive  by 
slapping  the  water  with  his  little  ladle- 
like  tail,  in  feeble  imitation  of  the 
mother. 

One  day  in  June  a  hawk  swooped 
down,  grabbed  one  of  the  young  bea- 
vers and  carried  him  away.  Later,  a 
pekan,  sometimes  called  a  fisher,  killed 
another  one.  Apparently  the  mother 
scared  him  off.  We  found  the  dead 
baby  beaver,  and  tracks  in  the  mud 
gave  us  the  name  of  his  murderer. 

Early  in  July  of  that  summer,  while 
on  a  fishing  trip  to  Wolf  Pond,  six  miles 
to  the  east,  Bige  and  I  met  our  white- 
headed  beaver  friend.  A  slap  on  the 
water  and  a  shower  of  spray  informed 
us  that  we  were  recognized.  It  also 

28 


l«      ->: 


5 

« 

ft« 


A 


spoiled  our  fishing  for  at  least  half  an 
hour. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  same  month 
we  met  him  at  the  mouth  of  West  Bay 
Brook  on  Cedar  Lake.  This  was  nine 
miles  west  of  his  home  and  fully  fifteen 
miles  from  Wolf  Pond,  where  we  last 
saw  him. 

In  the  third  week  in  August  we  again 
saw  our  beaver  with  a  white  cap.  This 
time  on  Pine  Brook  where  he  was  assist- 
ing two  other  beavers  (possibly  a  bro- 
ther and  sister  of  his,)  in  building  a 
dam  across  the  brook.  We  were  for- 
tunate in  being  able  to  conceal  our- 
selves, and  for  a  time  watched  opera- 
tions. Apparently,  our  friend  was  boss- 
ing the  job  and  directing  the  operations 
of  the  other  two.  It  seemed  that  his 
ability  as  an  engineer  was  recognized 
in  beaver  world,  and  he  therefore  had 
been  called  in  to  supervise  a  difficult 
undertaking.  Thereafter  we  called  him 
the  Chief  Engineer,  and  he  many  times 
proved  his  right  to  the  title. 

30 


In  September  the  Chief  Engineer 
returned  to  his  home  at  Cherry  Pond, 
and  there  followed  a  season  of  great 
activity  among  the  beavers.  Some  of 
their  work  we  were  privileged  to  see  in 
progress,  all  of  it  we  saw  after  comple- 
tion. The  young  beavers  were  now 
about  one  third  the  size  of  their  parents, 
but  they  all  worked. 

First,  the  entire  family  visited  the 
outlet  of  the  pond,  where  the  Chief 
demonstrated  to  the  others  that  with 
the  rocky  stream  bed  and  the  accumu- 
lated drift-wood,  a  dam  would  be  un- 
necessary to  maintain  water  in  the  pond 
at  its  present  level.  Next  the  house 
must  be  enlarged  to  make  room  for  a 
family  of  six  instead  of  two,  as  in  the 
previous  winter.  When  completed,  the 
house  was  elliptical  in  shape,  twenty- 
two  feet  across  its  base  in  the  short 
diameter  and  thirty  feet  in  its  longer 
dimension.  It  was  also  increased  in 
height  to  eight  feet.  The  peeled  sticks 
piled  up  under  the  ice  during  the  pre- 
31 


vious  winter  were  now  utilized  in  mak- 
ing additions  to  the  house  with  other 
sticks  and  brush  brought  from  the 
woods. 

The  interior  of  the  house  was  enlarged 
to  more  than  twice  its  former  size  by 
cutting  away  and  dragging  out  through 
the  tunnels,  surplus  materials.  In  doing 
this,  several  pillars  were  left  standing 
for  supports  to  the  enlarged  ceiling. 

Three  additional  tunnels  were  dug, 
making  five  channels  for  entrance  and 
exit.  Those  terminating  in  shallow 
water  were  continued  as  ditches  to 
deeper  water. 

The  storage  warehouse  also  was  made 
larger  and  deeper,  not  only  to  provide 
mortar  for  enlarging  the  building,  but 
because  more  food  must  be  stored  for 
six  mouths  than  was  required  for  two. 
A  very  high  grade  of  what  is  called 
"instinct"  in  animals  must  be  required 
to  calculate  and  determine  just  how 
much  food  to  store  for  a  winter's  supply 
for  a  family  of  a  given  size.  It  has  been 

33 


asserted  by  those  who  think  they  know, 
that  in  this  matter  a  beaver  never  makes 
a  mistake.  That  he  also  stores  an  extra 
amount  of  food  for  an  unusually  long 
and  severe  winter.  So  far  as  I  have 
observed,  they  seem  to  come  through 
the  winter  in  good  physical  condition. 

A  picture,  which  I  have  longed  to 
secure  on  a  film,  but  which,  so  far,  I 
have  only  been  able  to  fix  on  the  retina 
of  an  eye,  represents  a  young  beaver 
about  the  size  of  a  kitten,  not  fully 
grown,  in  an  upright  position,  holding 
in  his  two  hands  and  against  his  breast 
a  gob  of  mud,  while  he  laboriously  and 
clumsily  struggles  up  the  steep  side  of 
his  house,  on  the  roof  of  which  he  is 
about  to  deposit  his  burden.  In  the 
water,  towing  a  young  log  or  a  bushy 
branch,  he  is  much  more  at  home  and 
more  graceful  in  his  movements. 

The  following  spring  there  came  out 
of  our  beaver  house,  the  Chief  Engineer, 
his  wife,  four  yearlings  and  a  new 
family  of  five  babies.  The  "old  man'1 

34 


now  went  off  on  his  annual  exploring 
trip,  but  he  took  with  him  the  four 
older  children,  while  the  mother  and  the 
babies  remained  behind.  As  usual,  the 
house  was  deserted  during  the  summer 
months.  We  now  noted  several  bur- 
rows under  the  bank  at  widely  separate 
places  along  shore.  Sometimes  the 
beaver  would  be  seen  entering  one  of 
these  holes  and  again  another. 

It  is  interesting  and  easy,  to  study 
the  habits  of  wild  creatures,  and  to  note 
how  uniform  are  their  methods  and 
practices.  It  is  not  so  easy  to  determine 
reasons  for  their  peculiar  way  of  doing 
things.  It  is  of  course  permissible  to 
speculate,  but  one  might  be  expected 
to  furnish  proof,  when  an  assertion .  is 
made.  For  example,  it  has  been  stated 
by  at  least  two  writers,  that  beaver 
desert  their  homes  in  summer  so  that 
the  vermin  which  infest  their  huts  may 
die  off  from  starvation  during  the  ab- 
sence of  their  fur  coated  hosts. 

My  own  guess,  if  I  were  to  hazard 

35 


one,  would  be  that  since  a  beaver  house 
must  generally  be  placed  in  an  exposed 
position,  its  owners  find  that  with  the 
sun  beating  down  on  its  roof  during 
June,  July  and  August,  the  poorly  ven- 
tilated interior  becomes  too  hot  for 
comfort.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have 
noted  that  the  burrows  in  which  they 
live  in  summer,  are  usually  found  under 
some  overhanging  tree,  in  a  cool  spot 
where  the  sun  never  penetrates. 

During  our  wanderings  through  the 
woods  that  summer,  Bige  and  I  came 
upon  a  family  of  beavers  at  Mud  Pond. 
These  were  doubtless  also  emigrants 
from  the  original  Raquette  Lake  colony. 
Great  improvements  were  in  progress. 
An  abandoned  and  broken  down  lumber 
dam  at  the  outlet,  which  had  not  been 
used  for  lumber  operations  for  many 
years,  was  being  rebuilt  by  the  beavers, 
and  the  Chief  Engineer  was  on  hand 
assisting  and  directing  operations. 

On  a  subsequent  visit,  we  saw  the 
completed  dam  which  raised  the  waters 

36 


I 


of  the  pond  about  three  feet.  An  area 
more  than  a  mile  long  and  a  quarter 
mile  wide  was  now  flooded.  A  swamp 
at  the  upper  end  was  entirely  covered 
and  afforded  water  transportation  from 
a  large  grove  of  poplar  trees,  which 
without  the  dam  could  not  have  been 
reached.  Five  years  later,  on  the  shores 
of  this  pond,  the  beavers  had  completely 
cleared  of  trees  more  than  ten  acres  of 
ground.  At  this  time  four  beaver  houses 
were  observed  on  the  shore  and  on 
islands  in  Mud  Pond. 

When  three  years  old,  the  children 
of  the  Chief  Engineer  left  the  parental 
homestead,  mated  with  relatives  in 
other  colonies  and  set  up  house  building 
and  house  keeping  on  their  own  account. 
Some  of  them,  doubtless,  located  many 
miles  away,  others  we  know  built 
dams  and  houses  on  streams  emptying 
into  Cherry  Pond. 

One  summer  Bige  and  I  were  trout 
fishing  on  West  Bay  Brook.  We  worked 
up  stream  about  four  miles  from  its 

38 


Beaver  Posing 


mouth,  and  encountered  seven  beaver 
dams  and  as  many  houses.  At  one  of 
these  dams  we  found  the  white  capped 
Chief  working  with  some  younger  bea- 
vers. Our  guess  was,  that  some  of  these 
were  his  own  offspring  to  whom  he  was 
giving  instruction  in  engineering  prac- 
tice. 

A  year  later,  on  Fishing  Brook,  twenty 
miles  to  the  north-east,  and  fully  fifty 
miles  from  the  original  colony  on  the 
Raquette  tributary,  we  found  several 
beaver  colonies.  They  also  settled  on 
Minnow  Brook.  On  Salmon  River, 
from  its  mouth  to  Salmon  Pond  (which 
it  drains),  a  distance  of  six  miles,  there 
is  now  a  beaver  dam  every  half  mile. 
At  one  of  these  dams,  a  few  years  ago, 
we  found  the  Chief  Engineer  at  work. 
The  dam  was  placed  where  the  current 
was  swift,  and  a  big  rock  in  mid  stream 
was  utilized  as  a  pier,  against  which  the 
two  sections  of  the  dam  were  braced. 
Such  an  adaptation  of  available  means 
to  accomplish  a  difficult  engineering 

40 


feat  is  surely  something  more  than 
merely  instinct. 

On  an  exploring  trip  over  the  foot 
hills  of  Dunwood  Mountain,  Bige  and  I 
came  upon  a  very  unusual  beaver  dam 
on  Little  Bear  Brook.  The  brook  at 
this  point  flowed  through  a  deep  ravine. 
The  dam  built  across  the  valley  mea- 
sured in  length  at  its  top  two  hundred 
and  ten  feet.  It  was  fifteen  feet  from 
the  bottom  of  brook  to  top  of  dam,  and 
we  estimated  the  width  at  its  base  at 
forty  feet.  Water  was  flowing  over  a 
spillway  three  feet  wide  at  one  end  of 
the  dam.  The  upper  and  lower  sides 
of  the  dam  sloped  away  steeply  like 
the  roof  of  a  house,  and  along  the  ridge 
was  a  row  of  stones,  each  about  the 
size  of  a  man's  head.  We  walked  across 
the  dam  on  these  stones  without  wetting 
our  feet,  and  we  wondered  how  the 
beavers  got  them  into  position.  It  did 
not  seem  possible  that  such  small 
animals  could  lift  and  carry  these  heavy 
stones  to  where  they  were  placed.  It 

42 


was  impossible  for  a  human  to  roll 
them  up  over  the  lower  and  outer  face 
of  the  dam,  which  was  a  network  of 
interwoven  and  criss-crossed  saplings, 
sticks  and  brush.  The  only  other 
method  which  appeared  to  us  possible 
was  for  the  stones  to  be  rolled  or  pushed 
up  the  upper  and  inner  slope  of  the  dam 
under  water  to  the  top.  The  inner  face 
of  the  dam  was  of  course  plastered  over 
with  mud  and  was  relatively  smooth. 

We  cooked  our  eggs,  bacon  and  tea 
on  the  bank  at  one  end  of  the  dam. 
After  we  had  eaten  and  drunken  and 
while  I  was  engaged  in  taking  some 
photographs,  we  were  agreeably  sur- 
prised to  see  our  old  friend,  the  bald 
headed  Chief  Engineer,  swimming  down 
the  pond  toward  us.  As  a  signal  that 
we  were  recognized,  he  saluted  by  hump- 
ing his  back,  lifting  his  broad  tail  and 
striking  the  water  a  resounding  slap, 
thus  throwing  a  fountain  of  spray  high 
into  the  air.  His  presence  signified  to 
us  that  this  marvelous  piece  of  engin- 

44 


eering  was  the  product  of  his  skill  in 
plan  and  execution. 

We  were  able  to  go  in  a  boat  past  the 
beaver  house  on  our  pond,  about  a 
mile  up  the  river.  At  the  head  of  navi- 
gation was  a  big  flat  rock,  over  which 
the  water  flowed,  making  a  fall  about 
one  foot  high,  and  above  this  fall  were 
rapids.  An  old  and  much  used  trail 
started  at  this  flat  rock  and  led  up  the 
river;  a  branch  also  took  one  to  Wolf 
Pond  and  another  branch  led  to  Dun- 
wood  Mountain.  We  often  used  this 
trail,  as  also  did  other  visitors  at  the 
pond.  And  doubtless,  so  did  the 
Indians  many  years  ago. 

A  pair  of  young  beavers,  both  of  them 
probably  relatives  of  the  Chief  Engineer, 
built  a  dam  across  the  river  on  this 
flat  rock.  The  dam  was  about  two  feet 
high,  backing  the  water  up  the  rapids 
thirty  yards  and  making  a  fall  of  water 
over  the  dam  three  feet  high.  Above 
this  dam  the  beavers  started  building 
a  house,  but  before  the  house  was  com- 

45 


pleted,  high  water  following  three  days 
of  rain  washed  away  the  dam.  The 
beavers  at  once  rebuilt  the  dam  in  the 
same  spot,  but  within  a  month  the  dam 
had  been  the  second  time  washed  away. 
The  high  water  of  the  following  spring 
carried  the  dam,  rebuilt  in  the  fall,  off 
of  the  flat  rock  for  the  third  time. 

On  the  smooth  flat  surface  of  this 
rock  there  was  no  suitable  anchorage 
for  a  darn,  and  the  unusual  pressure  of 
high  and  swift  flowing  water  pushed  it 
down  stream  and  scattered  the  materials 
of  which  it  was  built. 

It  was  a  bad  dam-site!  and  this  is 
doubtless  what  the  Chief  Engineer  told 
the  youngsters ;  for  it  was  at  this  period 
that  the  Chief  took  a  hand  in  the  game. 

The  house  that  had  been  built  above 
the  flat  rock  was  abandoned  and  was 
never  again  occupied. 

A  pair  of  beavers  which  we  believed 
to  be  the  hard  luck  animals  above  men- 
tioned, we  now  found  were  beginning 
operations  on  a  new  dam  about  a  quar- 

46 


ter  of  a  mile  down  the  river,  and  the 
Chief  Engineer  worked  with  them  and 
seemed  to  be  directing  the  job.  We 
watched  the  progress  of  this  enterprise 
for  many  days  and  found  it  most  inter- 
esting. 

At  the  spot  selected,  the  river  was 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  wide 
arid  five  feet  deep  in  the  middle.  The 
current  was  not  very  swift  and  a  lot 
of  mud  had  settled  on  the  gravelly 
bottom.  Saplings  and  bushy  alders, 
many  of  them  fifteen  to  twenty  feet 
long,  were  used  for  a  foundation.  They 
were  always  placed  with  the  butt  ends 
up  stream  and  stones  on  the  bushy  ends 
held  them  firmly  anchored  on  the  bot- 
tom. All  sorts  of  materials  were  worked 
into  this  dam;  much  of  it  was  carried, 
dragged  or  floated  long  distances.  The 
sticks  and  brush  were  interwoven  in  a 
very  ingenious  manner,  the  chinks  were 
filled  with  sod,  stones  and  mud.  The 
entire  structure  was  firmly  braced  by 
heavy  sticks  resting  against  the  lower 

47 


slope  of  the  dam  with  one  end  of  each 
stick  stuck  in  the  ground  at  the  bottom 
of  the  river. 

This  dam  at  first  was  built  up  to 
two  feet  above  the  normal  level  of  the 
river  and  water  flowed  over  the  top  of 
the  dam;  but  the  river  banks  were  low 
at  this  place  and  water  also  flowed  over 
the  banks — on  one  side  into  a  slough 
and  on  the  other  side  into  a  swamp. 

The  second  phase  of  this  hydro- 
engineering  feat  was  now  begun.  It 
consisted  of  wing  dams  two  feet  high 
on  top  of  the  river  bank  and  parallel  to 
the  stream.  These  were  carried  up  on 
the  north  side  of  the  river  a  distance  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  on  the 
south  side  about  two  hundred  feet.  The 
dam  across  the  river  was  also  made  two 
feet  higher.  The  dam  now,  in  the 
middle  of  the  river,  was  five  feet  high 
under  water  and  four  feet  above  the 
surface,  making  it  nine  feet  in  the  high- 
est part  and  with  the  two  wings,  six 
hundred  and  seventy  feet  long. 

48 


We  had  visited  the  scene  of  opera- 
tions at  least  twice  every  day  during 
the  building  and  had  casually  discussed 
the  probable  difficulty  in  reaching  the 
old  trail  up  the  river,  but  had  not  con- 
sidered the  matter  seriously.  One  day 
Bige  and  I  dragged  our  boat  up  over 
the  dam  and  rowed  up  the  river.  Above 
the  end  of  the  wing  dam  the  forest  was 
flooded  five  hundred  or  more  feet  on 
each  side  of  the  river,  and  if  we  wished 
to  follow  the  old  trail  we  should  have  to 
wade  through  water  at  least  as  far  as 
that;  for  it  was  impossible  to  push  the 
boat  through  the  woods,  between  the 
trees  and  bushes. 

It  was  all  very  well  and  very  inter- 
esting to  watch  the  operations  of  the 
beaver,  but  rfiis  was  carrying  a  joke 
too  far.  The  beavers  were  now  inter- 
fering with  our  business.  The  beavers 
are,  of  course,  protected  by  law,  but 
here  were  hundreds  of  fine  spruce,  hem- 
lock, pine  and  balsam  trees  being 
drowned  in  our  presence.  The  trees 

49 


would  die;  they  were  valuable;  they 
belonged  to  the  State  and  we  were  both 
of  us  tax-payers.  This  thing  must  be 
stopped  at  once. 

We  rowed  back  to  the  dam  and  spent 
three  hours  tearing  a  hole  three  feet 
wide  through  the  middle  of  it.  We 
watched  the  water  run  out  through  the 
break  and  then  returned  to  camp. 

The  next  morning  we  found  the  dam 
had  been  repaired  during  the  night  and 
the  water  was  flowing  over  its  top  as 
usual.  Two  guests  arrived  at  our  camp 
that  morning.  They  were  interested  in 
the 'story  of  the  dam  and  spent  all  of 
the  afternoon  in  making  another  open- 
ing to  let  the  water  out;  but  again  the 
beavers  had  the  dam  repaired  before 
the  following  morning.  The  Doctor  had 
by  now  settled  in  his  camp  at  the  western 
end  of  the  pond.  He  came  across  with 
his  two  husky  boys  and  they  broke  a 
hole  through  the  dam  for  the  third  time ; 
and  the  third  time  the  beavers  repaired 
the  breach  during  the  night. 

50 


Bige's  fighting  blood  was  now  thor- 
oughly "het  up"  and  he  said  'Til  fix 
them  pesky  beavers."  A  lot  of  men 
were  at  work  building  a  "tote  road" 
for  a  lumber  camp  over  the  other  side 
of  the  mountain  about  three  miles  from 
our  camp.  Bige  went  over  to  call  on 
them,  and  he  came  back  with  four  sticks 
of  dynamite  and  some  fuse.  These  we 
connected  and  placed  on  top  of  the  dam. 
We  covered  the  dynamite  with  mud, 
lighted  the  fuse,  jumped  into  our  boat 
and  rowed  as  fast  as  possible  down 
toward  the  pond.  When  a  hundred 
yards  away,  the  explosion  occured.  With 
a  terrific  roar  that  beaver  dam  was  shot 
toward  the  sky  and  toward  every  point 
of  the  compass,  and  the  water  above 
the  dam  came  rushing  through  a  gap 
twenty  feet  wide.  A  later  examination 
proved,  that  the  dam  had  been  torn  out 
clear  to  the  bottom  of  the  river.  Our 
hand-made  breaks  had  extended  only 
to  the  surface  of  the  water  below  the 
dam. 

52 


That  night  a  hurry  up  wireless  call 
went  out,  and  before  morning  twenty- 
three  beavers  were  at  work  rebuilding 
the  dam,  with  the  Chief  Engineer  in 
command.  We  figured  that  delegations 
must  have  come  from  a  colony  two  miles 
up  the  river,  probably  some  from  Mud 
Pond,  others  from  Pine  Brook  and  Ra- 
quette  River.  Certainly,  there  were  not, 
living  on  our  pond,  as  many  beavers  as 
we  saw  at  work  that  night.  By  the 
next  morning  the  dam  had  been  rebuilt 
to  the  water  level,  and  the  second  morn- 
ing it  was  completely  restored  with 
water  flowing  over  the  top.  A  curious 
fact  we  noted,  was,  that  while  both 
banks  of  the  river  were  strewn  with 
fragments  of  the  old  dam,  not  a  single 
piece  of  this  tainted  and  dangerous 
material  was  used.  New  trees  and 
bushes  were  cut  and  carried  greater 
distances  for  the  rebuilding. 

At  this  stage  of  the  war,  Bige  and  I 
surrendered.  We  were  hopelessly  out- 
numbered and  outclassed  by  the  beavers. 

53 


They  worked  while  we  were  asleep.  We 
now  got  busy  and  cut  out  a  new  trail 
around  the  swamp  and  the  flooded  area 
to  connect  with  the  old  trail.  This 
makes  the  walk  fully  a  half  mile  longer 
than  before  the  dam  was  built. 

The  Chief  Engineer  had  lived  at 
Cherry  Pond  ten  years.  He  had  brought 
out  a  new  family  of  from  four  to  seven 
individuals  every  spring.  All  of  these 
had  been  housed  and  fed  for  two  or  three 
years,  when  they  were  old  enough  to 
emigrate  and  set  up  in  business  anct 
housekeeping  on  their  own.  During 
these  ten  years  a  large  quantity  of  bark 
had  been  consumed  and  poplar,  the 
favorite  food  of  beaver,  had  practically 
all  been  cut  ofl.  Along  the  shores  and 
on  the  islands  no  more  was  to  be  found. 
It  v/as,  therefore,  necessary  to  seek  new 
sources  of  food  supply. 

Beyond  the  swamp,  to  the  northeast 

of  the  river  mouth,  there  was  a  grove  of 

poplar  trees,  covering  several  acres.     It 

was  nearly  a  half  mile  to  this  grove,  but 

54 


not  too  far  for  the  courage  of  our  Chief, 
who  now  set  his  gang  of  youngsters  at 
work  digging  a  canal.  This  canal  had 
an  average  width  of  three  feet  and  it  was 
two  and  a  half  feet  deep.  It  was  made 
quite  crooked  through  the  swamp,  wind- 
ing around  and  between  clumps  of 
alders  and  larger  trees.  Smaller  trees 
were  dug  up  and  roots  which  crossed  the 
path  of  the  canal  were  cut  off  as  clean 
as  if  chopped  with  an  axe. 

Water  in  the  canal  through  the  swamp 
maintained  practically  the  level  of  the 
pond.  There  was  a  gradual  rise  of 
ground  beyond  the  swamp  and  here  a 
series  of  dams  or  locks  were  built.  Each 
dam  raised  the  level  of  water  from  two 
to  three  feet.  There  were  thirteen  of 
these  levels  varying  in  length  from  fifty, 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Water 
from  a  spring  brook  was  diverted  into 
the  canal  and  flowed  over  each  dam. 
The  beavers  towed  their  lumber  through 
this  canal  and  dragged  it  over  the 
several  dams,  each  of  which  seemed  to 

55 


2 

H 


§] 

TT 

P  S 


n 

? 


be  especially  constructed  to  facilitate 
this  operation.  The  length  of  this  canal 
we  estimated  to  be  twenty-five  hundred 
feet. 

Beavers  appear  to  prefer  the  bark  of 
smaller  trees,  but  they  do  not  hesitate  to 
cut  down  a  large  one  when  necessary. 
In  such  case  they  carry  away  the 
branches  only.  A  poplar  tree  eighteen 
inches  in  diameter  was  cut  on  the  shore 
of  our  pond  and  felled  into  the  water. 
The  branches  that  .remained  above  the 
surface  were  cut  off  and  carried  to  the 
storage  pile.  Those  that  were  under 
water  were  left  and  were  cut  off  under 
the  ice  during  the  following  winter. 

Beavers  are  generally  peaceable.  They 
have  many  admirable  traits.  Individ- 
uals of  one  colony  will  assist  those  of 
another  in  strenuous  operations  much 
as  pioneer  humans  helped  each  other  in 
building  log  cabins,  in  barn  raisings, 
etc.  Many  tales  are  told.  One,  of  a 
family  whose  house  had  been  destroyed, 
being  taken  into  another's  house  and 

57 


Tree  18  Inches  in  Diameter 
Partly  Cut  by  Beaver 


the  two  families  living  together  all  win- 
ter. Another  story  relates  how  a  mother 
beaver  was  killed,  when  another  immed- 
iately adopted  the  five  orphans  and 
brought  them  up  with  her  own  children. 
We  have  recorded  above,  instances 
where  the  Chief  Engineer  was  contri- 
buting his  remarkable  skill  and  exper- 
ience toward  solving  the  problems  of 
his  friends  in  widely  separated  parts  of 
the  forest.  And  we  believe  he  did  not 
insist  upon  union  rules  in  regard  to 
wage,  hours  of  labor,  or  minimum  out- 
put. 

Our  observations  justify  the  belief 
that  at  least  some  beavers  have  a  sense 
of  humor.  We  mention  two  incidents 
in  support  of  the  theory.  One  day  on 
the  big  lake,  near  the  hotel,  I  saw  two 
girls  about  twelve  years  of  age,  in  a 
canoe.  These  girls  were  chasing  a 
beaver.  The  beaver  was  swimming  on 
the  surface  and  he  was  more  than  half 
a  mile  from  his  house.  He  could  easily 
have  outdistanced  the  canoe  and  got 

59 


away  from  it,  but  he  chose  to  swim 
slowly  and  allow  the  canoe  to  approach 
until  the  girls  might  have  touched  him 
with  a  paddle,  when  he  would  hump 
himself,  slap  the  water  with  his  tail, 
*thus  throwing  showers  of  spray  over 
the  girls,  while  he  dived  under  the  canoe 
and  presently  came  to  the  surface  in 
some  new  and  unexpected  position.  The 
girls,  of  course,  with  screams  and  excited 
shouts  frantically  swung  the  canoe  into 
position  and  started  the  chase  over 
again;  while  the  beaver  loafed  along 
until  they  caught  up.  This  game  of  tag, 
played  by  the  girls  and  the  beaver  I 
watched  for  twenty  minutes  or  more 
and  each  time  the  girls  came  near  enough 
to  the  animal  he  managed  to  throw 
water  on  them.  I  feel  certain  that  he 
enjoyed  the  game  quite  as  much  as  the 
two  girls,  and  while  I  did  not  hear  the 
beaver  laugh,  I  thought  I  saw  a  grin 
on  his  face. 

The   cottage   where   our   family   live 
during  the  summer,  stands  on  a  bank 
60 


about  thirty  feet  above  the  water  and 
fifty  feet  from  the  shore  of  the  lake. 
A  number  of  shade  trees  have  been 
planted  on  the  grounds  about  the  house. 
Among  these  were  two  poplar  trees 
which  we  had  carefully  nursed  for  five 
years,  and  they  were  growing  fine.  One 
of  them  was  directly  in  front  of  the  cot- 
tage and  twenty  feet  from  the  steps. 
It  was  six  inches  in  diameter.  The 
other  tree  was  four  inches  in  diameter 
and  about  thirty  feet  from  one  side  of 
the  house. 

A  mile  up  the  lake  was  a  large  beaver 
house.  The  shores  near  this  house  on 
both  sides  of  the  lake,  were  lined  with 
poplar  trees  and  an  island  near  by  was 
covered  with  them.  One  night  a  beaver 
from  this  colony  came  down  the  lake 
and  cut  down  the  poplar  tree  in  front 
of  our  door,  cut  it  into  suitable  lengths 
and  towed  it  back  up  the  lake  to  his 
house.  In  the  morning  all  that  was 
left  where  my  tree  stood,  was  a  stump 
and  some  chips.  The  following  night 

61 


8 

o 
J3 


he  came  again  and  cut  the  other  tree. 
He  must  have  made  several  trips  to  tow 
back  to  his  storage  pile  the  lumber  he 
cut  at  my  front  door. 

I  have  devoted  some  time  to  specu- 
lating as  to  the  motive  that  might  con- 
ceivably actuate  a  perfectly  sane  and 
intelligent  beaver  to  haul  his  lumber 
more  than  a  mile,  when  in  doing  so  he 
would  have  to  pass  by  hundreds  of  other 
equally  good  trees,  many  of  them  within 
a  few  rods  of  his  house.  The  only  rea- 
sonable answer  I  have  been  able  to 
secure  to  this  conundrum  is  that  the 
beaver  probably  thought  it  would  be 
a  good  joke  on  me;  and  I  have  a  mental 
picture  of  him  laughing  in  his  sleeve  as 
he  dragged  the  logs  down  the  bank  in 
front  of  my  door  while  I  slept. 

Early  in  October,  a  few  years  ago, 
Bige  and  I  were  entertaining  three  guests 
at  our  Cherry  Pond  camp.  For  two 
days  we  had  been  hunting  with  indif- 
ferent success.  Awakening  quite  early 
one  morning,  I  took  my  rifle  and  leav- 

63 


ing  the  other  members  of  the  party 
audibly  sleeping  on  the  balsam,  tiptoed 
out  of  camp  and  down  the  trail.  A 
log-road  paralleled  the  shore  of  the 
pond  and  I  wandered  down  this  road, 
hoping  to  get  an  early  morning  shot  at 
a  deer.  It  was  still  quite  dark  and  I 
found  that  the  sights  on  my  gun  were 
still  invisible  in  the  dim  light,  so  I  sat 
on  a  log  and  waited  for  the  first  yellow 
light  to  appear  over  East  Inlet  Moun- 
tain. Then,  continuing  my  silent,  stalk- 
ing way,  when  opposite  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  I  heard  curious  and  unusual 
sounds.  Peering  through  the  bushes 
across  the  slough  I  saw  a  black  bear. 
He  was  on  top  of  the  beaver  house  and 
with  his  claws  was  tearing  out  sticks, 
brush  and  sod  and  throwing  them  in 
every  direction.  The  bear  was  very 
busy  and  with  great  energy  and  deter- 
mination he  was  proceeding  to  dig  out 
the  Chief  Engineer.  Of  course  I  knew 
that  the  Chief  was  in  no  personal  danger, 
as  he  had  a  perfectly  safe  way  of  retreat 
64 


Bear  Wrecking  Beaver  House 


open,  under  water.  But  I  could  not 
stand  idly  by  and  see  his  roof  torn  off: 
so  I  took  careful  aim  and  fired.  The 
bear  tumbled  down  the  steep  slope  of 
the  beaver  house  and  I  had  visions  of 
bear  steak,  etc.,  etc.  But  he  immed- 
iately got  on  his  feet  and  wallowed 
through  the  slough  to  the  shore.  As 
he  crossed  the  log-road  headed  toward 
the  woods  I  fired  again  and  the  second 
time  the  bear  fell.  It  did  not  take  him 
long  to  recover  his  balance  and  start 
at  high  speed  up  the  steep  hillside. 
About  ten  rods  from  where  I  stood,  the 
bear  came  into  an  opening  in  the  bushes 
which  had  once  been  a  skid-way  for 
logs;  here  he  stopped,  put  his  fore  paws 
up  on  a  log  and  looked  back  at  me. 
"Now,"  I  said,  to  the  trees  and  bushes, 
"he's  coming  back  to  argue  with  me." 
Before  he  started,  however,  the  third 
shot  cut  a  bunch  of  hair  off  of  his  shoul- 
der and  he  resumed  his  journey  up  the 
mountain  and  I  went  back  to  camp. 

The  racket  made  by  three  shots  in 

66 


the  early  morning  had  suddenly  inter- 
rupted the  camp  chorus,  and  I  was 
greeted  with  the  inquiry,  " Where's  the 
deer?" 

"That  deer/'  said  I,  "is  a  bear,  and 
he's  big  as  a  horse.  I  left  him  up  in  the 
woods.  We'll  go  and  get  him  after 
breakfast." 

Bige  allowed  that  "if  it  really  was  a 
bear,  he  wasn't  hurt  much.  You 
couldn't  kill  a  bear  with  that  pop-gun. 
(I  was  using  a  Winchester  30).  Why, 
a  bear's  hide  is  thicker  than  sole-leather 
and  this  time  of  year  he  has  an  armor- 
plate  of  fat  under  it,  six  inches  thick. 
You  might  as  well  try  to  shoot  a  hole 
through  a  feather  pillow.  If  you  are 
going  to  hunt  bear,  take  an  elephant- 
gun— a  45-90." 

After  breakfast,  we  all  started  out  on 
the  trail  of  the  bear.  We  found  blood 
spots  in  the  log-road.  We  also  meas- 
ured a  foot  print  in  a  soft  place  in  the 
path.  It  was  twelve  inches  in  diameter. 
Broken  bushes,  blood  spots  on  fallen 

67 


trees  and  on  leaves  marked  his  route  up 
the  steep  slope.  Half  way  up  the  moun- 
tain on  a  big  ledge  of  rocks,  covered 
with  moss,  the  bear  had  been  lying  down. 
A  pool  of  blood  marked  the  spot.  Also, 
numerous  tufts  of  moss  torn  from  the 
rock  and  saturated  with  blood  were 
scattered  about.  Apparently  the  bear 
had  pulled  up  handfuls  of  the  soft  moss 
and  used  it  in  the  same  manner  that  a 
surgeon  uses  lint. 

Bige  suggested,  'This  is  a  first  aid 
station  for  bears;  but  if  you  should  tell 
anyone  what  you  have  seen  here,  you 
will  be  put  in  the  class  of  Nature  Fakirs. " 

We  followed  the  bear's  trail  from  the 
mossy  rock  up  to  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain and  had  started  down  the  other 
side  when  it  began  to  rain.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  rain  had  washed  away  the 
red  stains  and  we  lost  the  trail  and 
returned  to  camp.  But  that  bear  is 
going  yet.  Also,  he  is  carrying  with  him 
three  bullets  that  belong  to  me.  Some 
day,  somewhere  in  the  woods,  I  expect 

68 


to  meet  him  again,  when  I  shall  take 
those  bullets  away  from  him. 

It  is  now  seventeen  years  since  we 
first  met  the  Chief  Engineer.  He  still 
retains  the  monopoly  of  his  trade  mark. 
Within  our  knowledge,  no  other  beaver 
has  appeared  with  a  white  spot  on  his 
head.  But  the  Chief  shows  his  age. 
His  brown  coat  of  fur  looks  faded  and 
grey,  and  the  white  spot  is  less  conspic- 
uous. The  Chief  was  a  member  of  the 
first  colony  installed  for  the  purpose 
of  restocking  the  northern  forests;  and 
he  has  contributed  his  share,  both  to 
increasing  the  inhabitants  and  to  re- 
building beaver  industries.  Every  sea- 
son a  new  family  of  four  to  seven  bea- 
vers have  been  sent  out  from  his  home 
to  start  other  families,  and  so  they  have 
multiplied  in  a  sort  of  geometrical  pro- 
gression until  now  they  cover  many 
hundreds  of  square  miles  of  forest  land 
and  water.  Early  in  1920  the  Conser- 
vation Commissioner  of  the  State  of 
New  York  estimated  that  there  were 

69 


more  than  twenty  thousand  beavers  in 
the  Adirondack  region.  My  guess  is 
that  this  estimate  is  much  too  low. 

One  day  last  summer,  Bige  and  I  saw 
the  Chief  Engineer  dive  and  enter  a 
tunnel  leading  to  his  house.  We  silently 
paddled  up  close  to  the  house  and  lis- 
tened. Presently  we  heard  a  murmur  of 
beaver  conversation  inside.  "Gosh!" 
said  Bige,  "the  old  Chief  is  giving  in- 
structions to  the  kid  beavers.  He's 
telling  'em  how  to  handle  the  job  they 
have  to  do  tonight." 


70 


14  DAY  USE 


RETURN 


DWED 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


DEC 

0?1991 

RECEIVED 

NOV.  '2 

5  1991 

: 

trrt   i   - 

: 

«RS 


